SINGAPORE: A Mercedes electric vehicle worth more than S$230,000 caught fire shortly after leaving a car park at Vista Point in Woodlands on Tuesday (July 21), forcing its driver to flee the vehicle.
According to Shin Min Daily News, the fire broke out at about 10 a.m. The woman, who had owned the car for less than three years, said she noticed the smell of smoke moments after driving out of the car park and quickly got out to investigate.
In an interview, the driver said she bought the electric car less than three years ago, and she had never had any problems driving it before. Before the incident, she was just about to drive out of the parking lot when she suddenly smelled smoke, so she quickly got out of the vehicle to check.
When she realised that nothing was burning nearby, she noticed that the smoke was coming out of her car.
“I quickly took a small fire extinguisher from the car and called a nearby security guard to help put out the fire,” she claimed.
The fire started between the driver’s seat and the front passenger seat–where the car battery is “believed” to be located. Initially, the security guard tried to help her extinguish the fire, but failed. Due to this, they had to call the Civil Defence Force for backup.
“Fortunately, the fire started here (near the parking lot). If it had been on the expressway, I definitely wouldn’t have dared to stop. Even if I had stopped, I probably wouldn’t have dared to open the door because of the passing vehicles, and I would have been trapped inside the car,” the woman admitted.
The authorities confirmed that they have received the report. Firefighters successfully extinguished the fire with water hoses. Thankfully, no one was injured. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
In a separate incident, a vehicle caught fire while travelling along Marsiling Drive, waking nearby residents after they heard what they described as an explosion.
Read more about the news story here.
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